New Bloomburrow Uncommon Creates Competitive Fling Deck! (2024)

Despite many MTG formats having rock-solid established metagames, there is plenty of opportunity for some brewing to be done. This bizarre deck that top-eighted a 97-player Pioneer tournament is a great example. The deck seems rather budget-friendly, utilizing an incredible amount of common and uncommon cards, including some new additions from Bloomburrow! If you want to throw your creatures at your opponent, this is the deck that does just that.

Rakdos Thud

Rakdos Thud, as we’re coining it, utilizes a combination of creatures that deal damage equal to their power on death, things that buff those creatures’ power, and Thud, a Fling for one mana. This makes spot removal a lot more awkward thanks to the damage that most of your creatures deal when they die.

In total, there are six Thud, or Fling effects in the deck. Four are the card Thud itself, but the other two are found on an Adventure. Callous Sell-Sword basically does the same thing as Thud does, though the creature technically deals damage to a player, and then dies. This opens up the creature to being removed to prevent the effect, which totally blows you out, so be careful.

As risky as this seems, there’s actually an upside to targeting your creature. That’s thanks to the new Bloomburrow uncommon Heartfire Hero that makes its Pioneer debut in this deck. Heartfire Hero has Valiant, meaning that targeting it gives it a +1/+1 counter. This allows the Thud effect to deal two more damage. One through its own effect, and one through the death trigger of Heartfire Hero.

In addition to Heartfire Hero, Fireblade Charger and Cacophony Scamp both deal damage equal to their power when they die.

Lots of Bizarre Commons

If you thought Heartfire Hero was a strange inclusion, strap in because it gets much weirder. Mirran Banesplitter is a one-mana equipment that grants a creature +2/+0. Originating from March of the Machine, this is a bizarrely strong card in the deck, as long as your creature doesn’t get removed in response to its trigger. Your Thud effects deal two more damage with this card, and your creatures that all deal damage equal to their power on death get a lot more deadly. As an added bonus, Fireblade Charger gains Haste when equipped.

Titan’s Strength is the other offbeat common in this deck, which may be a real nostalgia-filled callback for some. This was a rather popular card in Standard Heroic decks back in 2014, basically functioning as a worse version of Monstrous Rage. No Monster Role is involved, but Titan’s Strength gives the same buffs all things considered, and even offers to Scry one.

Outside of all the cute Thud synergies, you’ll find a variety of cards commonly found in Mono Red Aggro decks. Monastery Swiftspear, Kumano Faces Kakkazan, and Slickshot Show-Off all make an appearance.

Overall, the deck seems to cost around the $200 range, which is not too bad for a Pioneer deck. There are cheaper options out there, but this may be one of the more effective budget options.

Weaknesses

I can’t think of a card that blows this deck out harder than Temporary Lockdown. Not only will this wipe your entire board, including equipment and enchantments, but you won’t get any death triggers on your creatures. You do come equipped with four Pick Your Poison in the sideboard, which can deal with this card, but it’s still not a great position to be in.

Fortunately, Temporary Lockdown is not too popular at the moment. You’ll find this card in Lotus Field and in UW Control decks, but neither of those archetypes is particularly prominent.

Pick Your Poison does a lot of heavy lifting post-board. The card is also capable of dealing with Vein Ripper, which is an absolute nightmare for this archetype. You want your creatures to die to deal damage, but Vein Ripper will start draining you for two whenever something dies. Unlike Temporary Lockdown, Vein Ripper is absolutely everywhere.

This definitely offers an alternate route for aggressive gameplay in the Pioneer format. I suspect that this may have a strong matchup against the Prowess decks, which could be a reason to play this. Otherwise, dealing heavy damage out of the blue may be the tool you need to race the Amalia Life deck before they put together a winning combination.

There’s never been a better time to chuck your creatures at your opponent’s face than now in the Pioneer format.

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